The Stitchdown Shoecast

My chat this week is with Brooklyn -based bespoke shoemaker, educator, and artist Anne Marika Verploegh Chassé, aka STIEFELwerk. 
Two decades ago, Marika came at shoemaking from a fine arts background, which shouldn’t surprise anyone who’s seen her work. After years learning the craft under many of the great shoe and bookmaking teachers, today Marika focuses on the use of veg-tan leather—often from the wholly unique Hudson Valley tannery Pergamena—to create hugely intriguing and distinctive custom, filly handmade footwear from her Brooklyn apartment-turned-workshop. 
In the chat, we get into Marika showing up at her first-ever shoemaking with her entire arm in a cast; the critical importance of the shoemaking community exchanging knowledge that ISN’T written in books; her own teaching at RISD, Parson, and FIT and why it’s allowed her to keep making shoes; the joy of carving her own lasts; and the importance of always saying yes, even when it really feels like you should say no. 
Here’s Marika, on the Shoecast. 
https://www.stiefelwerk.nyc/
Support the Shoecast, get full bonus episode access, and join the most interesting shoe-and-boot-loving community on the internet with a Stitchdown Premium membership

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A website. We have one.
https://www.stitchdown.com/

We'd better see you at Stitchdown Chicago 2026—the world's fair of shoes and boots and leather and more—Nov 6-7 at Artifact Events.

https://www.stitchdownbootcamp.com/

It's Shoebag time for Shoecast season 17. Which means it's time for a serious dose of Ticho, who joins me to unpack all the biggest listener questions.
Why are we both suddenly wearing the same barefoot-style shoes nonstop? Which iconic footwear figure from the past (aka, dead) would we love to spend a weekend in a deeply isolated cabin with? Why do we have so much ennui generated by hiker-derived fashionshoes? How in the world does someone size up a leather jacket properly? Who's this JohnnyWorks guy and what's going on in his workshop? Is Ben actually turning into a suburban cowboy or is it all just a clever ruse? What are our favorite Aldens that are STILL our favorite Aldens?
And did we maybe, juuuuuuust maybe, get tassel loafers all wrong?
Support the Shoecast, get full bonus episode access, and join the most interesting shoe-and-boot-loving community on the internet with a Stitchdown Premium membership

https://www.stitchdown.com/join-stitchdown-premium/

A website. We have one.
https://www.stitchdown.com/

We'd better see you at Stitchdown Chicago 2026—the world's fair of shoes and boots and leather and more—Nov 6-7 at Artifact Events.

https://www.stitchdownbootcamp.com/

When I met Emily Boksenbaum at our Maker’s Day 2025 conference in Chicago, I knew I had to get her on the Shoecast.
Emily’s always made stuff. First it was art growing up, which led to a focus on fiber material studies in art school. Next came leather tooling, prop-making and other “creative odd jobs,” before going into corporate footwear design. That didn’t quite hit for her, which meant it was finally time to figure out how to make some cowboy boots. After training under some of the great makers and teachers in the space, she moved to Boulder, Colorado to open a custom boot shop dubbed Underhill Leather out of her garage, which she shares with one of our favorite former Shoecast guests, fellow cowboy bootmaker Holly Henry.
This one goes ALL sorts of places, as Emily gets deep into navigating different materials, machinery, and mindsets; the emotional and dare we say metaphysical layers of creation; that time she woke up to flood of DMs from eager customers thanks to a bass guitarist who loved her boots; and what it means to be a maker in a world that’s forgotten how to make things.
Oh and Zagnuts! Of course we got into Zagnuts.
Here’s Emily Boksenbaum, on the Shoecast
Support the Shoecast, get full bonus episode access, and join the most interesting shoe-and-boot-loving community on the internet with a Stitchdown Premium membership

https://www.stitchdown.com/join-stitchdown-premium/

A website. We have one.
https://www.stitchdown.com/

We'd better see you at Stitchdown Chicago 2026—the world's fair of shoes and boots and leather and more—Nov 6-7 at Artifact Events.

https://www.stitchdownbootcamp.com/

Justin FitzPatrick aka the Shoe Snob on fiery times in the comments section, what a dress shoe customer even looks like in 2026, button boots (obviously), and why it’s never been harder to start a shoe brand than right now. 
Support the Shoecast, get full bonus episode access, and join the most interesting shoe-and-boot-loving community on the internet with a Stitchdown Premium membership

https://www.stitchdown.com/join-stitchdown-premium/

A website. We have one.
https://www.stitchdown.com/

We'd better see you at Stitchdown Chicago 2026—the world's fair of shoes and boots and leather and more—Nov 6-7 at Artifact Events.

https://www.stitchdownbootcamp.com/

In November 2025, we did a thing. Stitchdown’s Boot Camp 2025 Chicago was a quality footwear mega-expo, a materials trade show, a crossroads of the industry we love, and one big ol’ multi-day party with my favorite community in the world. 
As part of that weekend in Chicago, I sat down with Shuyler Mowe of Nicks Boots and the one and only Skip Horween for a live Shoecast taping at the excellent Hoste distillery. 
Skip and Shuyler are both multi-generational leaders in their spaces, and getting them to open up about how they work together to develop products, challenges the overlapping industries are facing, and some fun stories from the tannery was about as enjoyable as way to spend a night as I could imagine. So here’s our chat, with some attendees questions as the end. 
Also! We’re coming back to Chicago in 2026! Mark your calendar for November 6th and 7th for Stitchdown Chicago 2026—the same event but EVEN BETTER with a slight rebrand thrown in—at Artifact Events. Can’t wait to see you there. 
Here’s Skip and Shuyler, on the Shoecast. 
https://www.stitchdownbootcamp.com/
Support the Shoecast, get full bonus episode access, and join the most interesting shoe-and-boot-loving community on the internet with a Stitchdown Premium membership

https://www.stitchdown.com/join-stitchdown-premium/

A website. We have one.
https://www.stitchdown.com/

We'd better see you at Stitchdown Chicago 2026—the world's fair of shoes and boots and leather and more—Nov 6-7 at Artifact Events.

https://www.stitchdownbootcamp.com/